Your ride today....

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Blowing a gale out there. Indeed it blew my 60+ year old Norway Spruce over last night. Storm Freya - you were very unkind. So with the wind still blowing but not so gusty I hid in the lanes for a White Rabbit run. The tail wind sections were good but the inevitable headwind sections were tough. Fortunately the little shower I caught didn't last long as it blew away rapidly. Always a silver lining...... 35 smiles.

(And why can't I get a photo to copy into this post? - He's a nice White Rabbit)

Edit - found the button (D'oh) and here's the pic

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Yesterday’s ride with a couple of friends and their sons. I was meeting them at a country park about an hour’s ride on MTB from home. Took my adventure bike (CX/gravel) and did it in 45 minutes. A couple of hairy moments as I need some new tyres with better grip particularly when at one point the back wheel slipped under load and went out from under me. Ouch! Picked up and carried on.

Nice ride to a second country park (15 minutes from home) which we did in quick-time. I was going to do the return ride with the chaps then ride back home to extend my ride significantly. However, before reaching the meeting point, both brakes started squealing which got worse and worse. I decided not to extend the ride and went home to fix (then only got round to it today ).

I’m going to look at ordering some new tyres. I need suitable for road and trail in 700x32c. I do like Schwalbe, I’ve had them in the past and always been happy. Need little rolling resistance, good grip and puncture protection. And preferably not more than £20 each!

Suggestions appreciated!

 

[Old jon]

There is one usable road bridge from this island to the mainland and I have crossed this a few times in a car. Never seen a cyclist on this road, three lanes or more in both very busy directions. But, I was told there is a ciclovia, AKA cycle track, which runs under the bridge. So, to my embarrassment, I went and found it.

Yup, I have ridden past this many times, seen cyclists and pedestrians travelling in both directions. And I never made the connection. So today I rode over it to the other side. It is, literally, under the road surface of the bridge, thirty or forty feet. The view to the north is concrete, the southern view is the ocean and its local shores which look great to the naked eye but just do not work on my phone. Might just return with a camera. Maybe this pic will do . . .

At the mainland ( other ) end of the bridge the directions fudged. The intention was to turn right, google’s maps said left then a ‘U’ turn. Both pointed the bike at the return over the bridge but on the road, which I am pretty sure is not allowed. I looked about, pedalled slowly and looked about some more but the route was not obvious enough for me to see it. No sweat, turn south, the road seems to follow the coast so I will follow the road. It was rather good. Quiet, but that might not normally be the case. It is Carnaval across Brazil this weekend, which does not finish till Tuesday, so the country is shut. Come back on Wednesday, preferably after lunch. Carnaval is great, more about dance than much else. We went to a small village for their version, no samba school displays, just folk enjoying a good time. Ooops, off topic.

So, as the video shows, I squiggled along to a bit of road that was close to the shore. The bit of road stops at what I have to call a boardwalk and I know my tyres do not grip on wood. Far enough then, about turn. The road was just as good in the opposite direction but the rising parts were more noticeable. In this direction the road is closed to cars on Sundays, 0800 to 1700, bikes only. Beira Mar in Florianopolis has a stretch closed in the same way. Good to have a bit of a playground I reckon. The bridge, this will always remind me that I can be hard of thinking, and back to the island and the gentle ride to Itacorubi and that hill. It was warm, a bit of breeze, but no help at all to ride up. Still, sixteen miles, 800 feet of up and a well earned smile.

A landscape orientation map. Or something.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

So today was the day new bike day .Having spent most of last summer dithering wether to and what new bike I missed the nice weather so it was put on the back burner. After many trips to my Lbs a straight upgrade to another giant defy was ruled out due to me not liking the gearing my thoughts turned to a TCR . After a test ride last month the deal was done last week . Julie's cycles did me a good deal on bike and accessories recievied a text while out riding on Sat that it's ready . By the time I'd got home got to the shop and had a quick fit by the time I got home the weather had turned for the worst so ride delay ,Sunday was rainy day so not wanting to get my new shiny bike wet today was my first chance to ride it . Out the door at 0930 in to blustery condition worrying about the deeper section wheels ,which proved to be a lot less twitchy than expected . Did a standard 50km loop out to St Bernards Abbey. This loop contains a bit of everything climbing ,quick descents ,flats and a few technical bits so a good test of the bike . A mile in and I'm smiling what a ride . The bike passed every test with flying colours and I'm a happy bunny . Because of the wind it's quite hard to compare but it just feels fast . Position tweaking will begin but set up not far off . 32 miles bagged so another 50km ride done at 16.1 mph with out really pushing it and thanks to dry roads the bike still shiny
View attachment 455847
Blatant new bike shot .looking forward to many more miles

Bugger, bang goes me nicking the odd hill off you

 

[steven1988]

Yesterday’s ride with a couple of friends and their sons. I was meeting them at a country park about an hour’s ride on MTB from home. Took my adventure bike (CX/gravel) and did it in 45 minutes. A couple of hairy moments as I need some new tyres with better grip particularly when at one point the back wheel slipped under load and went out from under me. Ouch! Picked up and carried on.

Nice ride to a second country park (15 minutes from home) which we did in quick-time. I was going to do the return ride with the chaps then ride back home to extend my ride significantly. However, before reaching the meeting point, both brakes started squealing which got worse and worse. I decided not to extend the ride and went home to fix (then only got round to it today ).

I’m going to look at ordering some new tyres. I need suitable for road and trail in 700x32c. I do like Schwalbe, I’ve had them in the past and always been happy. Need little rolling resistance, good grip and puncture protection. And preferably not more than £20 each!

Suggestions appreciated!

Cough! Tan side walls cough!

 

[cosmicbike]

Really fast commute into work tonight......
I think the way home will be somewhat slower.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

After a good week away in the Lakes last week I dragged the knockabout bike out this morning to get back into the local miles.

I went for a variation of my route out to Melverley going over Lyth Hill to Hunger Hill, Exfords Green. Arscott, Lea Cross, Edge, Asterley, Westbury, Halfwy House, Wollaston, Crewgreen, Melverley, Pentre, Shrawardine, Montford Bridge and back round the edge of Shrewsbury.

The shorts & t-shirt weather last week has reverted to a rather cool feel with a brisk wind which I seemed to do a lot of work against as far as Crewgreen. Once it was behind me though I got wafted along very nicely at up to 23 mph in places. I suspect that doing the route the other way round would have worked better with the wind direction really.

There were one or two other cyclists about. Not much in the way of incidents apart from encountering the guy overtaking a tractor and completely ignoring the double white lines at Lea Cross. Just as well I wasn't in a car otherwise it would have been emergency stop time.

35.3 miles at 12.9 mph average which is a little better than I was expecting in the conditions.

Just a few phone snapshots this time:

View from Lyth Hill. The greening up of the fields is making it start to look like spring even if it isn't feeling much like it at the moment.

Windmill between Asterley and Westbury. I'll have to come back and get a better photo with the proper camera at some point.

About to descend the hill from Bulthy to Crewgreen.

 

[8mph]

A 70 mile round trip to the cycle shop again, to replace more parts. I've replaced my XT derailleur and shifter with cheap Shimano Acera parts, fixed a spoke, cables and brake pads. The bill was about £40 again.

Finally the ride feels smooth and I'm not having to change down early for hills and stay in the saddle. The bike feels faster and I enjoyed racing back. I'm leaving Goa on Friday and heading back to Delhi which will be around 1300 miles. It's been a long day but well worth the effort.

 

[Jon George]

Shot taken on the cycle path on the way down to The Mumbles, just past the Marina.
View attachment 455870

I love this pic! What a fabulous sky!

 

[pjd57]

two runs today.
I had nothing planned , but got a message from a mate last night and decided to head over to Barrhead to meet him coming off his shift this morning.
Road into Barrhead from the Hurlet is a disgrace .

Pleasant coffee + breakfast stop in Partick then headed home.

Back out , and down the Kelvin , Clyde , then Glasgow Green and east to Shettleston.
47 and a bit miles in total.

The rain stayed off for most of it.

 

[Donger]

Car service and M.O.T. day again, so off over to Cheltenham. Took the bike with me and rode home the long way, returning by bus to collect the car later.
Took the long way home from Cheltenham, via quieter roads, looping around to the West of Gloucester. This scene in Tredington looked familiar .... which it ought to, as I passed it on an audax on Saturday:

After Staverton and Tredington, I did a short stretch of the A38 ... still having the road almost to myself, before turning towards Ledbury and taking this shot near Deerhurst (with the Malvern Hills brooding in the background):

After crossing the Severn for the first time at Tirley, I turned South into the teeth of a headwind and made my way along the Hams to Ashleworth:

Crossed the Severn again at Maisemore, before crossing it twice in quick succession at Over. (You ride alongside the river before passing under the A40 and then have to grit your teeth and spin up a couple of hairpins on a steep little track up onto the Old Bridge at Over. There I stopped for a moment to take a picture towards the A40 before getting back on the cycle path on the A40 and crossing back over in the opposite direction to get to the Gloucester Western by-pass .... staying off the roads for the remainder of the ride. It was nice to give the No.2 bike a run out for only the fourth time this year. I tend to use No.1 bike whenever there are hills and descents as I find the disc brakes vastly superior. No.2 ran smoothly and silently and was a pleasure to ride today.

This is becoming something of a tradition now. Every time the car goes in for anything at the dealers in Cheltenham, I get a nice little ride out of it. Very enjoyable 27 miles in glorious sunny weather today, if a bit on the windy side.
Cheers, Donger.

 

[PeteXXX]

This morning I met up with a couple of friends for a pedal around the area.
The plan was for a metric ton, but I had to be back home, for family stuff (including pancakes) by 15.00ish.

After a coffee and a slice of cake, at the new Buddhist meditation centre, Thornby Hall, I headed home while t'other two sat awhile before riding towards Rugby for their 100k.

I was hoping to bump up the pace and distance a bit as we'd been quite slow, due to one of the chaps only just recovering from the Lurgee, but would have been late home if I'd have tried for a metric ton, so I contented myself with a shorter ride. Also, I'd turned into a stiff headwind for several miles, so the pace, though better, wasn't very fast.

An enjoyable 50 miles, in and out of the wind...
But at least it was dry, and not too cold.

https://strava.app.link/MS5fgBWDOU

 

[Old jon]

Well, it has to be done. Why one unknown road is more appealing than another is one of those great unanswerable questions, so off I went to the mainland again this morning. Warm again, and dry, with a little more breeze than before.

Down the hill, across the flyover and around the bend to reach the cycle track. The very necessary cycle track, and I never thought I would put those five words in that order. The road at the side is always busy and noisy, even in the early hours. No matter, along Beira Mar to the new bridge. Along the way a child travelling in the opposite direction fell off an electric scooter a few yards in front of me. These scooters, and non electric bikes, have recently appeared here. They are for rent, about 40 pence for ten minutes for the bikes and the scooters are, I have been told, a lot more expensive. Riding along here, these things need a careful eye kept on them. Erratic riding seems to be compulsory . . .

Anyway, hard of thinking bridge was soon reached. Turn right for the access ramp and forget to change down to bottom gear. It is a steep ramp, so return to the bike track and start again, in the correct gear. The excuse is that with only 250 miles on the bike I still have not become used to the stem shifters. Keep reaching for the brake levers. Another look around at the far end of the bridge failed to show me a way to travel north. T’other way it is then. The road surface along here is wonderful, until just after the left turn I took for the beach side road I used last time. This time, stay on the main road, start climbing just as the surface turns lumpy. No odds, I was not sitting on the saddle anyway, the hill was a bit steep. I am not sure if it is the heat, or maybe the direction the water swirls in the plughole, but hills here seem steeper than the ones I am used to. Anyway, to the top of this one, start the descent. Cars in front are turning right, straight on looks busy and commercial so I turned right also. And right again to crest the hill again, which gave me a view of the bridge. A lot of roads around here have cobbles or setts to ride on, as this one. This may not be for reasons of comfort, so I turned around, navigated a few one way streets and succeeded in finding the road I had ridden here on again.

So, back I rode. The breeze was now in my face, the legs becoming a little weary and there were a few more riders around. That said, there are usually lots of riders out, compared to the numbers I see in Yorkshire. The weather and the bike tracks I reckon. Mind, it raises a grin watching the locals carefully ride around the puddles after rain. So, another sixteen and a half miles, a few more hills and the suntan is now turning brown. Of course I am smiling.

A similar map

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Wet and windy all day. I thought I spotted a weather window and so I had. Unfortunately the window wasn't long enough and I got caught in a torrent. Got some miles tho' round the White Rabbit route. 35 smiles indeed.

 

[pawl]

Wet and windy all day. I thought I spotted a weather window and so I had. Unfortunately the window wasn't long enough and I got caught in a torrent. Got some miles tho' round the White Rabbit route. 35 smiles indeed.

View attachment 456267 View attachment 456268 View attachment 456269 View attachment 456270

Love that poem.Requested it be read at my funeral,whenever that might be.